Joe Paterno always preaches the importance of special teams play – although in recent years that has not always showed on the field. But the Lions have had some special, special teamers in the JoePa era. In the finale of our three-part series, here are the all-time JoePa special teamers:

Placekicker: Brett Conway gets the nod. The Bahr brothers, Chris and Matt, were first team All-Americans, with Chris having the bigger leg. But statistically they were not that accurate when compared to other Lion placekickers. Nick Gancitano at 78 percent is the most accurate of the top dozen or so kickers, but he didn’t have the really big leg. Travis Forney and Conway were accurate too, but of the three, Conway had the biggest leg, which also helped on kickoffs.

Punter: Ralph Giacomarro is the man on the strength of back-to-back 43-yard-plus punting seasons in 1980-81. George Reynolds, the career leader in punting average, and Jeremy Kapinos deserve mention.

Kickoff returner: As an underclassman, Curt Warner ripped off three kickoff returns for touchdowns and has a career average return of about 29 yards. He’s the guy.

Punt returner: JoePa has had some great punt returners, including Mike Archie, Jimmy Cefalo, Dennis Onkotz, Gary Hayman, O.J. McDuffie, Bruce Branch, Michael Timpson and even Matt Suhey. Archie and Cefalo had the best average return but weren’t used that much in the role. So, take your pick between Onkotz, Hayman and McDuffie, but I’ll take McDuffie.